Friday, 5 June 2009

Dunstable DownsBATER, Wendy Anne The Labour Party 855COLE, Peter Arthur United Kingdom First 856FREEMAN, Paul Darryl The Conservative Party 1828 ElectedGATES, Lesley Elizabeth Liberal Democrats 775GODFREY, Derek Esau National Front Britain for the British 423GREEN, Tony The Conservative Party 2011 ElectedHEGLEY, Carole The Conservative Party 1664KING, David The Labour Party 556LARKMAN, David William Liberal Democrats 799O'NEILL, James Kenneth The Labour Party 520POINTER, Sally Francis Liberal Democrats 746SHAW, Joy Amelia The Labour Party 557WITHERICK, Ian Liberal Democrats 692YOUNG, Nigel The Conservative Party 1855 Elected

BRIDGEMAN, Steven British National Party - British Workers First 735CHATTERLEY, John Anthony The Conservative Party 998EGAN, Rita Liberal Democrat Focus Team 1650 ElectedGOODCHILD, Susan Anne Liberal Democrat Focus Team 1877 ElectedHARRIS-SMALL, Ruth The Labour Party 463JONES, David John Liberal Democrat Focus Team 1628 ElectedMEAKINS, Beryl Mary The Conservative Party 279MEAKINS-JELL, Claire Elizabeth The Conservative Party 799ROCHE, Robert James The Labour Party 482SLOUGH, Susan Elizabeth Ann The Labour Party 456SWAISLAND, Peter Frederick The Conservative Party 746TURNER, Roger Harold The Labour Party 444WILLIAMS, Peter Liberal Democrat Focus Team 1553 Elected

Sunday, 31 May 2009

A brave whistleblower warns today how race-hatred is still the lifeblood of the evil BNP - and begs People readers: "Vote for anybody but them this week."Former BNP candidate Christopher Brennan made his plea as the far-right party try to win support for Thursday's vital Euro and local elections.Leader Nick Griffin and his henchmen are selling themselves as mainstream moderates. But Chris, 21, declared: "Don't be fooled - they are racist to the core."

Chris was just 18 when he stood as a British National Party candidate in multi-cultural Luton, Beds. He said officials routinely branded black people n*****s. And he claimed they told activists to launch violent attacks on their "enemies".Chris - who quit the party in disgust in 2007 - said: "I've seen the BNP for what they really are. They are hellbent on destroying all that is good in Britain. No matter what is said in public about not being a racist organisation any longer, those beliefs are still at the core of the organisation.

The European elections give them a chance to get a foothold in British politics because people are so incensed by the scandal of MPs' expenses. But they are beyond the pale."The BNP is fielding 450 candidates for the local elections and 66 for the European Parliament poll.ConvictedTheir campaign is being led by Griffin - convicted in 1998 of distributing material likely to incite racial hatred - and publicity manager Mark Collett. Chris worked alongside both of them during his failed election bid in 2007.The whistleblower - who joined the BNP as an impressionable 13-year-old - said: "

On the outside these men, like many BNP activists, will take the party line of presenting an image of respectability, people the voters can trust. But at secret meetings the talk is of 'breaking the legs of our enemies'."He went on: "I met Griffin and Collett several times. Griffin congratulated me for standing and told me our country needed 'young blood'. I remember him saying, 'We need to get to the stage when we have 40,000 people to march on to the streets to take our country back from the immigrants'."Before my election in 2007, Griffin came to Luton to make speeches where he said the P*kis were to blame for housing shortages in the north. Collett hated black people and made no secret about it - he spoke about n*****s diluting the British race.

He and Griffin made it clear how they felt - but made sure they made it clear how we should behave in public for the 'good of the party'."Chris claimed Collett quoted whole passages from Hitler's book Mein Kampf to a packed meeting in Luton. And he said Collett once told him he idolised the Nazi monster.Chris revealed: "Collett said he wanted to be just like him - a man of courage and honour is how he put it. He called Mein Kampf his version of the Bible and quoted passages from it, encouraging others to study it."Chris said party workers were instructed in how to intimidate opponents. He went on: "We were told to find the names and addresses of anyone who campaigned against us. We'd put them under surveillance for several days, photographing them and watching their movements. Some had bricks through their windows and some even had deaththreats and were warned not to carry on. Griffin and Collett knew this was going on - it was talked about openly.

In private, the party line is that the ballot is just a stepping stone and after that it will be taken by force."Chris claimed the party was now being torn apart by jealous rivalries. He said: "Senior figures are at each other's throats, all vying for power and trying to discredit each other."But he warned the BNP is still a force to be reckoned with at Thursday's polls.Chris said: "The public may be appalled at MPs' expenses but the reason the BNP is targeting European seats is because of the wages and extortionate expenses members can claim. There's an agreement to claim the highest amount and divide the money between individuals and the party so there is more in the coffers for the next wave of elections. It needs to be stopped - and I hope it is not too late to stop British electors being fooled into voting for them."He went on: "Having witnessed what I have, no one associated with it is to be trusted and every aspect of the party is devious.

Behind the smart suits and the nice smiles are lies and deceit that will threaten our country."Chris added: "Thousands of people will be thinking the BNP is an alternative to the other parties. But there is a dark side which we have to stop coming to power ever."Griffin denied all the allegations and branded Chris a Labour mole.He said: "This man is paid to tell lies about us by an organisation funded by the Labour Party."

He insisted he never said n*****s and only used P*ki to describe a type of street thug not the Muslim community.And referring to the housing shortage he added: "Why on earth would I blame Pakistanis for a problem caused by Poles, Czechs and Nigerians?" Collett also denied Chris's claims, saying: "He clearly has a personal grievance. It's not what we stand for and the members would not tolerate these claims - they are utterly ludicrous."It is a politically motivated stunt on the eve of the elections."Sunday People

Tuesday, 26 May 2009

Never again must we see the sight, in our town, of a 200-strong rabble fighting police on the central dual carriageway in a bid to reach Bury Park; terrified customers barricaded within a restaurant; Asian shops with windows smashed or students assaulted.

We extend our thoughts to those who were assaulted, intimidated or had property damaged as a result of the actions of the lawless majority on that march. We also commend the actions of police on the ground who, with severe provocation, contained the disturbances with minimum force.

The Asian community showed admirable restraint under tremendous provocation and thanks must go out to community leaders who exercised great leadership under duress.However, the truth is that these events could have been entirely avoided. Intelligence from the internet quite clearly showed that there was a large contingent that cared nothing for honouring troops, laying wreaths or handing in petitions. They intended to travel to our town in order to cause the very same trouble that we saw on Sunday evening.

In trying to appease demonstrators, the authorities tried to negotiate with groups such as "March for England" and in doing so gave the green light for all manner of individuals with a grudge or grievance to attend. March for England then realised this for themselves and pulled out, meaning that there was no-one on the day who could exercise leadership for the gathering or be held accountable.

This resulted in three different groupings entering Luton on Sunday. Two were relatively dignified and peaceful but numbered no more than fifty. The third bolted from the form-up point in Manor Park right from the very start and were responsible for the confrontation with both police and community.

In the aftermath of these events we call for the following :1) An urgent assurance from the authorities that no further parades of this kind be allowed, particularly given the fact that a spokesperson for the demonstrators has identified 31st August as the next date for disturbances.2) Police to use the full force of the law to mete out justice to those responsible for violence, threat and criminal damage3) The Council to review their procedures for considering the merit of parade applications, incorporating a far stronger consideration of impact on community cohesion.

In stark contrast, Monday’s International Carnival – with 100,000 participants instead of 200 – provided a far more positive and accurate representation of our town of Luton than events the previous evening.

Peace, harmony and tolerance are values worth defending and we call upon all within the town to work towards this end.

Monday, 25 May 2009

I arrived at Manor Park at 4.30pm to see a small number of mounted police at the form-up point awaiting the demonstrators. They were to be found in boisterous mood in various pubs and bars in a trail from Park Street up to Market Hill. At 4.45pm, a large contingent made their way down to the Park, chanting "we want muslims out" and drawing much bemused attention from passers by.

When we reached the Park, police calmly ushered demonstrators into the Park. There was a small "formal" delegation from March for England already line-up, but suddenly a large group (about 200) bolted in the direction of the town centre. Police soon realised that plans had to change quickly, as it soon dawned on us that there was only one thing one minds of this group of youths - the fastest route possible to Bury Park ready for a confrontation with the Asian community. A quick pause at the war memorial was followed by nearly 2 hours of cat-and-mouse with the police as this group of demonstrators zig-zagged their way along Luton side streets try to make their way northwards. On each turning police, now wearing riot shields and carrying batons, outflanked the protestors and hemmed them in. On many occasions ringleaders urged the crowd to stand their ground and mount a charge at police. A few hurled banners at police lines and there were arrests made when youths fought with police as they were trying to make their way towards Bury Park along the elevated dual carriageway.

Some of those arrested, I was told, already have recent convictions for violent offences.

Some had a different target in mind. "Leave them - they're coppers, not Pakis" said one as a further attempt to break police lines was made. An Asian shop down Chapel Street had its windows broken and cars were damaged as one individual walked up the boot, across the roof, down the windscreen and on with his journey.

Dedicated T-shirts, balaclavas and Sayful Islam masks (with devil's horns) were being sold by the same person in a grim attempt to sell "merchandise" related to the event.

Eventually police cornered the mob in Market Hill and the crowd dispersed into local bars. However, disturbances went on into the evening and further attempts were made to make ventures into Bury Park.

Great credit must go to a local young Imam who persuaded a group of angry young muslim men from making their way towards the town centre. A true act of leadership matched by the self-restraint and disciplined of the Bury Park youth. It appears that the Imam was from the same mosque that was burned in a firebomb incident from a few weeks ago.

Strangely, there were three distinct groups of demonstrators : 1) the break-away mob as described; 2) the "official" March for England delegation who laid their wreath and left 3) a further small group who walked down towards the town hall and stayed for the duration of the afternoon at the war memorial.

The instigator of the event, Paul "Lionheart" Ray, has announced intentions for another march in August, but surely Luton can be spared another re-run of this mayhem.

This blog will report on the aftermath of the demonstration in the days and weeks to come.

We have come across Godfrey before when he stood in 2007 (with Deacon as agent) in Caddington and Slip End under the banner of the NF. He is a frequent correspondent of the local paper, where he has stood up for Oswald Mosely and supported Prince Harry when he wore a swastika armband.

Godfrey was a active member of Mosley's post war Union Movement. By the 1970's when it was in terminal decline some core members who were hard line National Socialists set up the League of St George. Membership was by invitation only and our picture shows Godfrey (second from left) marching at Diksmuide in Belgium on the occasion of their annual pan-Europe get-together.

Shelley Rose (centre) flanked by BNP leader Nick Griffin and Young BNP activist Mark Collet.Collet appeared in the 2002 Channel Four documentary "Young, Nazi and Proud." He is quoted as saying "Hitler will live forever; and maybe I will."

In 1998, Griffin was convicted of inciting racial hatred for publishing material that denied the Holocaust.

On 27th November 2008 Rose – worker at a Luton furniture company - showed that she was capable of spreading similar lies. On Facebook, when describing why she was boycotting Tescos (once owned by Jewish people) she said:

"They want to take over the world, all the other shops even supermarkets seem to have some regard for local produce and the country. Tesco's are on their own agenda. They will destroy all business around them, unless people refuse to shop there. I would rather put myself out and pay a bit more at a smaller local shop, than line the pockets of the kikes that run Tesco."

Thursday, 21 May 2009

My name is Chris Brennan and I had the misfortune to be a candidate for the British National Party in the 2007 Luton elections. I joined another racist group, the National Front, when I was just out of school - down on my luck and without too many prospects. I joined the BNP after a couple of years in the NF running around with people that were little more than criminals and bootboys. At first the BNP appeared friendly and offered some simple answers to things that were frustrating me at the time. As I got drawn further in however, it became clear to me that their activists were full of hate - for Jews and black people as well as for each other. When I stood as a candidate I felt I was left all by myself - a young lad - without any support from the older men who were pulling the strings from way off in Milton Keynes. The last straw was when another party member assaulted me in the street - from that point on I decided to make a break. Since then I have made a new career for myself in a new part of the country. Whereas I still have questions about immigration, my views have changed seeing that I have got to know people from all sorts of backgrounds.

My simple message to you is not to trust any leaflet or candidate from the BNP that might land on your doorstep. Behind the gloss lies a message of fear put around by men who have no answers for the issues of Luton today.

Wednesday, 13 May 2009

1. What evidence do we have that the accommodation of a march will draw this issue to a close ?

2. It is clear from Facebook that protestors see the campaign as a phased programme of events. In fact they have identified a number of demands.Is there not a significant risk that they will be emboldened by this action to make future requests that, to be "fair", have to be considered on face value ?

3. Specifically, will the heralded "D-Day" event for 6th June now be cancelled if the 24th May event goes ahead ?4. Could it not be argued that in organising (albeit illegally) on bank holiday Monday 13th April, the demonstrators have had a more-than-fair chance to make their demands and articulate their feelings on the issue of March 10th ?

5. Will the 24th event culminate in a rally with speeches ? Do we have notice of who the speakers are ? Will the content of their speeches be restricted ? The twin themes of "March for England" are "immigration" and terrorism."

6. Is there not a problem where the criteria for permission relate purely to issues of health and safety with no consideration of equalities and impact on community cohesion ?

7. Does this concession to march not run contradictory to the strong message sent out on the cover of the recent "Lutonline" saying "Enough is enough. Luton is our town and the people who live here work hard to co-exist, ensuring community cohesion. We don’t need people using our town as an excuse to stir up ill feeling or suggest that we are not patriotic."

8. Who are the organisers of the march ? Are any of them Lutonians ? If it is March for England, is LBC aware of the serious allegations levelled at the organisation on respected blogs such as http://barthsnotes.wordpress.com/2009/03/26/english-patriots-capitalise-on-islamism/. The 2 photos gathered from Dave Smeeton's Facebook page (above) are of particular concern. Under the "Skinhead" photo, Smeeton has written in a comment "those were the days..." in a moment of unbridled nostalgia.

9. Were community groups and leaders consulted prior to the decision to consider sanctioning the 24th March ?

10. Is not the marching date particularly ill-timed given the 1) proximity of the mosque fire, 2) high-profile far-right election campaign, 3) heightened community tension and 4) imminent preparations for the inclusive, multi-cultural carnival celebration ?

A British National Party candidate, due to stand in London Colney and Colney Heath in next month's county council elections, has undergone training to enable him to speak to the press.BNP member Mark Gerrard has been nominated in the Colneys division and will be on the ballot paper. Unfortunately, despite his training, his was this week unable to talk to the Review.His opponents fighting for a seat on Hertfordshire County Council include Labour Party candidate Dominic Benson, Liberal Democrat's Chris Brazier, Green Party's Lucy Eggleston, and Tory Timothy Jones.St Albans MP Anne Main said: "It's extremely disappointing that we have far right parties like this who only serve to bring out racial tension. "In an area like London Colney, which has a significant ethnic popultation, its politics are completely disreputable and I do hope people don't see the need to support it."Community relationships on the whole in St Albans are very good, exemplary in some cases, it's a real shame they feel they need to stand in areas such as ours."I really hope that people roundly reject them." Speaking about his controversial competitor, councillor Brazier added: "It's sad that people are still considering the BNP these days, it is an extreme political party."I think it's very difficult for the BNP to get its policies over without sounding extreme."Labour councillor Martin Leach, who represents Batchwood ward, said: "I hope the election will concentrate on the real issues about the future of local services and not be side lined by racists and cranks."Mr Gerrard, who is the only competitor within the Colneys Division living outside the district, did not respond to the Review's request for comment but his party colleague, BNP local spokesman Mark Fuller, said: "Like any BNP candidate he will be a strong voice for the local people in the community and will work hard within the framework of his office, should he be elected, for the benefit of all."He added that it was party policy for all its member to undergo extensive training before talking to the press.Hertfordshire County Council will go to the polls on June 4.

Tuesday, 28 April 2009

"Extremism, a centre for terrorism" – these are just some of the dreadful and frankly unwarranted things that people have begun to associate with Luton. It is time we put the recordstraight. These recent press stories have also made Luton attractive to national groups who want to make this Town a focus for their own objectives. Enough is enough. Luton is our town and the people who live here work hard to co-exist, ensuring community cohesion. We don’t need people using our town as an excuse to stir up ill feeling or suggest that we are not patriotic.

The Second Battalion, The Royal Anglian Regiment, known as The Poachers, has the freedom of the borough. Its members – whether White, Black or Asian – include young men and women from our town and we are proud of them all. Whether or not you agree with them being sent to war zones, that is no reason to harrass brave men and women who are simply doing their job. The recent protest by the handful of people who subjected the Poachers to ignorant and unacceptable abuse was not authorised by Luton Borough Council or the Police. Groups of all faiths, shapes and sizes across the borough condemned the action. Some groups, not necessarily connected to Luton, reacted by trying to arrange a march in support of the troops at very short notice. Their recent claims that we have banned such action are without foundation. Democracy and freedom of speech are fundamental rights of our community and this allows anyone to apply to hold a march. But the Council, and the Police, have a duty to keep people safe.

To ensure public safety there are clear rules forassessing any such application, beginning with prior notice of six weeks and a risk assessment to ensure the safety of the public and those who intend to march. There is however no license to say anything you want. Freedom of speech needs to be used properly and responsibly. Marches which break the law, such as inciting riot or fuelling racial hatred, will not be considered under any circumstances. We will not have our Town and community threatened by such action. We will however do what we can to ensure those seeking to express their view within the law can have that opportunity. The Council and its partners in the Town are committed to supporting and sustaining all communities in this Town and promoting community cohesion. This takes time, patience, goodwill, compromise and understanding from us all.

Luton is certainly not perfect and like many other towns we have to work hard at living in harmony which we do - anyone who was with Luton Town FC at Wembley would have seen the diversity of this Town standing together celebrating their victory. All we ask is that people, and in particular some members of the media, focus on the many positive aspects of life in Luton.

Friday, 24 April 2009

Last year’s council elections saw the BNP win record numbers of seats, to take us to over 50 elected representatives in England and Wales. This year’s council elections will hopefully see us make an even bigger advance and to do that we ask for all branch members and supporters to get involved. In Beds & Bucks we hope to have a number of candidates and would welcome even more.

We have been extensively leafleting and campaigning in Luton, Biggleswade, Milton Keynes, Leighton Buzzard and Aylesbury towards this goal. We also need more leafleters to come forward and help not only in our own area but possibly others as well. There are many other ways to help the party move forward, addressing envelopes, office duties etc so please get involved. There will be regular meetings and activities throughout 2007.

We have established a new group in Aylesbury Vale, under organiser Mellissa Hayles. She can be contacted at aylesburyvale@bnp.org.uk and is very keen to build up support in the town as well as the surrounding villages. Luton Group continues to grow, mainly due to the hard work put in by organiser Peter Fehr and his dedicated team of activists. Membership has doubled in the town over the last twelve months. We have held three excellent meetings in Luton over the past few months and leafleting teams have been out regularly.

Meetings have also been held in Milton Keynes, while we continue to encourage our members to support our colleagues in Northants BNP, by attending their meetings and activities, whilethey in turn support ours. Many thanks to Dave Robinson, the Northampton Organizer for his support during 2006. In Biggleswade, the entire town has been leafleted as a prelude to standing candidates in May. We have a number of new members in the area as a result of this. Mention must also be made of the newly appointed Young BNP Organizer for Beds & Bucks, Chris Mitchell, who has plans to develop the youth wing of the party in our region. But as usual we needmore people to get active. Then we can increase dramatically our presence on the political scene in the two counties. For the first time we will be standing a number of regional candidates, so please SUPPORT AND HELP THEM!

MAJOR REGIONAL MEETINGTHERE IS A MAJOR REGIONAL MEETING IN SOUTH NORTHAMPTON ON TUESDAY, 20 FEBRUARY AT 7.30PM TO BE ADDRESSED BY PARTY CHAIRMAN NICK GRIFFIN. WE HOPE TO HAVE IN EXCESS OF 100 PEOPLE AT THIS MEETING. ALL BEDS AND BUCKS MEMBERS ARE REQUESTED TO ATTEND AS THIS WILL BE THE MAJOR PRE-ELECTION MEETING IN 2007.

Full details are available from Jim Wood (Beds & Bucks), Dave Robinson (Northampton) and other local organizers.

Saturday, 18 April 2009

Paul Ray is now intent on putting in a request for a march for 6th June in Luton as the letter to police shows below. One wonders who the "several organisations" helping out with the event are ....... One thing is certain - they will not be from Luton and will parachute all of their supporters in for another day of mayhem in the town centre.

Ray's agenda is to highlight "the threat of militant Islam," although in his blog postings he does not draw a distinction between miltants and mainstream muslim thought. His agenda is set out in the following Youtube video :

I am writing to you in relation to a planned D-day march in Luton on Saturday June 6th. Due to the 6 week block that was placed in the way of holding a St George’s day event in the town, I am now giving the 6 weeks notice as requested. There will be several organisations helping with this event, one of them being ‘March for England’.

Mr Smeeton from ‘March for England’ has advised me to pass the contact details below through to you in relation to police references, and one preventing the BNP from attempting a high profile presence at one of their previous events.

This is not a political event; this will be an event where citizens from all communities, no matter the colour of their skin, or what their political affiliation might be, can come together to show their respect to past and present Allied troops on such an important day in the British calendar, and to protest about the present dangerposed to our domestic security by militant Islam (Al Qaeda) in Britain.

A signed letter of intent for this event will be in the post in the next few days.

There are times when the anti-fascist struggle is precisely that – a long, hard haul with little visible return. However, there are those precious times when fascist groups turn in upon themselves and push the self-destruct button. Our job then is purely to sit back and admire their handiwork, as has been the case recently in the case with events in Bedfordshire and Buckinghamshire.

One could make the case that regional prospects for the BNP were looking relatively rosy after the May elections. First-time candidate Phill Carter got a cuddle from Nick Griffin for her 22% in Stratton ward, Biggleswade and NF-convert Chris Brennan chipped in with a reasonable 17% in Luton. Recruitment in neighbouring Hertfordshire was bubbling up and with a capacity start-up June meeting in Aylesbury, local campaigners could see an arc of activity appearing across the three counties of Beds, Bucks and Herts.

As a May newsletter for activists mentioned,

"Beds and Bucks was just one group only three years ago. We now have new groups in South Bucks (Chilterns), Aylesbury and Luton as well as the "mother group" Beds & Bucks. We now seek to establish new self governing groups in Milton Keynes, Mid-Bedfordshire, South Beds and Bedford."

The framework for this region was provided by activists in Milton Keynes, lead by the trio of fundholder Steve Sherwood, Barry Taylor and Anna Seymour. Between them, these three ran the Luton BNP website, organised leafletting campaigns and supported local candidates at count night in the May elections.

A meeting to plan future campaigning was held in Milton Keynes mid-June when local activists met regional organisers Roger Robertson and Eddy Butler, who rode into town in the company of Essex activist Miss Emma Colgate. Prior to this meeting Taylor had whined long and hard to local members about the aloof attitude of Sherwood and wanted to bring his regional influence to an end. He got his way through the appointment of Phill Carter as North Beds. organiser; Blood and Honour wannabe Robert Sheddock as Luton fundholder and ex-November 9th Society member John Cater as Luton organiser. Sheddock and Cater were thought to be a winning combination, although Cater was rejected as a candidate in May because his politics (straight-arm variety) were considered beyond the pale. Sherwood’s favoured candidate for Luton organiser, hypnotist Chris Chibnall, took a long lie down on the couch as he was sidelined. Sherwood’s wife Kay, an activist herself, reportedly left the meeting in tears.

Events then started to take on a life of their own. A council bye-election was called for Whaddon ward in Milton Keynes and local BNP activists wanted Anna Seymour to stand. Seymour has a somewhat eclectic past and present – having two mixed-race children from a relationship with an African-American in the 1980’s. Along with Barry Taylor they choose to straddle a variety of nationalist groupings, having dealings with the BNP, Nationalist Alliance, British People’s Party (BPP) and lately, the England First Party. They specialise in support for Tyr Services, a nationalist marketing group run by Ricky Fawcus, now resident in Sweden. With political astuteness (such a CV was bound to cause problems for the BNP) and with awareness of the internal campaign run against him, Sherwood baulked at the suggestion of Seymour’s candidacy.

Ricky Fawcus (left), Steve Smith (right)

Veteran nationalist Les Andrews from nearby Bedford had received a long-service award from Nick Griffin at a local meeting just 18-months ago, but that didn’t stop him jumping ship to the England First Party earlier in the year. On hearing the news of Seymour’s rejection by Sherwood, he got on the hotline to the EFP’s leadership in Lancashire. Undeterred by the fact that there are only 4 EFP members in the region, elections organiser Simon Bennett saw an opportunity for the Party to break out of its north-west heartland. Anna was therefore adopted as a candidate and the entire Milton Keynes BNP branch (minus Sherwood and without the knowledge of hapless South-East Organiser Roger Robertson) swung behind the campaign. Barry Taylor appeared to be happy that their distribution of two leaflets and cavalcade in a battered Fiat Punto was proceeding "under the radar" of both local media and local anti-fascists.

Local attention was drawn however, by the content of the leaflets, which railed against translation costs, an "influx immigrants and asylum seekers" and a school that dared to have children speaking 32 languages. The local contact number for the EFP was a mobile number belonging to Barry, identical to that found on a website that registers his involvement as a UK Honeybee Swarm Co-ordinator. In fact, the website of the North Bucks Beekeeping Association appears to be hosted by Taylor and with alarmist talk on its pages of "imported bee parasites as a result of Global Capitalist exploitation" it appears he is writing more than his fair share of the content too.

Left to right : Bert Leech, Anna Seymour, Steve Smith, Les Andrews

In the election Seymour gained 8% of the votes and contributors on the nazi-web forum Stormfront purred about the way that UKIP were relegated far down the poll. These comments took on more of a hostile tone when local anti-fascists seized their moment and informed the local press about the candidate’s membership of the BNP, active involvement with Tyr Services and her fulsome praise of a deceased John Tyndall in the online book of condolence for the openly-Nazi British People’s Party :

"Sadly I was only able to meet John on two occasions at recent meetings here in Milton Keynes, and I must say on both occasions i was moved by his noble love and patriotism of this once great land, which sadly no longer belongs to us the indigenous natives."

A front page story in the Milton Keynes News caught many of the characters unawares. Roger Robertson was forced to expel both Taylor and Seymour from the BNP on account of the fact that they campaigned openly for the EFP, a proscribed organisation. Seymour spluttered out that she had left the BNP "because they were too racist." This sits uneasily alongside the fact that two weeks later, she was pouring coffees for Richard Edmonds and 50 members of the BPP at a local John Tyndall Memorial Meeting, where nazi flags and paramilitary merchandise were openly on sale.

The aftermath of this episode features personal setbacks for many local activists on the far-right :

The leadership of the EFP is being ridiculed by nationalists for failing to check on the credentials of one of its candidates;

South East BNP regional organiser Roger Robertson is being questioned for his inability to influence activists in the Home Counties;

Local BNP activists in Luton and Biggleswade are now cast adrift from the support provided by the "mother group" in Milton Keynes.

For anti-fascists this represents an opportunity to press home our advantage, having put the opposition on the back foot. Fortunately, the activities of Taylor and Seymour, both past and present, have the potential to create many more embarrassing local headlines in the months ahead ......

Thursday, 16 April 2009

A little bird tells us that the BNP intend to stand candidates in Abbots Langley, South Oxhey and Oxhey Park in Three Rivers.

We've been aware of some partial deliveries of old BNP material in Abbots Langley and Oxhey Park (Moor Park, Carpenders Park and Oxhey Hall) in recent weeks, but this is sporadic and inconsistent.

We also gather that for Watford Borough Council, the BNP will only be standing for the Meriden/Tudor county division, currently held by the Lib Dems. Meriden has traditionally been a Labour area, with high rise blocks and many council and housing association properties.

There's a lot to rage at in Luton at the moment - the financial crisis is biting and even the local football team has dropped out of the football league due to the Football League docking 30 points. So when the opportunity came to show displeasure at authority for allowing extremists to hurl abuse at the Royal Anglian Regiment, 150-strong mob duly turned out in the town centre on Bank Holiday Monday. From the start it became clear that this was not an exclusive far-right rally. Most of those attending were from various football tribes, with the majority made up of those Luton Town fans who couldn't be bothered to see the home game just down the road. The target of their wrath wasn't easy to make out. A few days previous, a Borough Council committee had decided that local Islamaphobe blogger Paul Ray could not hold a St George's Day march through the town due to the lack of notice.

This was a very sensible decision by virtue of the wealth of out-of-town troublemakers that follow in Ray's wake. By reading the variety of placards present on the day (above), the council, police and MP Margaret Moran all received some blame. The police tactic of "kettling" received another outing, with officers surrounding the demonstrators and hemming them in to a small area. No permission had officially been given to march, so movement down the town precinct was not permitted.

Just after 2.00pm people carrying placards appeared and the crowd began to gather. Soon there was around 200 people who came from nowhere and that crowd was in no mood to listen to the police informing them that the protest march could not go ahead and was illegal. The police moved infront of the marchers as they moved from Park Square trying to stop them but the protesters broke through and were being chased by police and also officers on horseback. The protesters wanted to get to the Town hall but they were stopped by a strong line of officers and police vehicles. Now they were all infact penned in from the front and back, there was now to be a stand off.

Ten National Front supporters turned up including their Chairman Tom Holmes, which probably made it their biggest turnout in many a month. To their horror, one placard (above) read "NF Go to Hell" (can we borrow it please) and sensing that today would not be their best day for recruitment, they decided to leave and lick their wounds. Much discussion has subsequently gone into the nature of this placard. It was clearly an attempt by the organisers to distance themselves from far-right politics and indeed, conversing with a number of demonstrators on the day, they gave little evidence of a racist motive. However, the BNP put a good deal of effort into promoting the march and clearly hope to benefit from the resulting publicity. However, the only sign of known supporters on the day was YBNP Bedfordshire organiser Chris Mitchell (below, wearing cap, facing camera) who turned up with his less-than-conscious black Arsenal chum, Godfrey Faulkner (below, wearing cap, facing left) on a road trip from Leighton Buzzard. After being penned in for two hours, the police let the demonstrators disperse before the end of the Luton home game.

In total, six people were arrested after dispersal. The local press wrote balanced accounts of the events, but the Daily Star chose to stay true to their Islamophobic stance, giving the demonstrators free rein to say that they were "reclaiming the streets" from the extremist demonstrators.

Local anti-fascists hope that this event will lance the boil of street-level dissent over that fateful day in March. Paul Ray has signalled his determination to stage a "March for England"-style demonstration in Luton for early June, but his ham-fisted attempts at public relations will hopefully cause this venture to come off the rails. We are also mindful of the need to use language that accurately describes the nature of those taking part. Those taking part on Monday were not "BNP" and some would bristle at any "far-right" label. Negative coverage of the troop parade has clearly mobilised a number of locals to act in this manner, but it would be counterproductive to brush these individuals into the same camp as the BNP.

Saturday, 11 April 2009

We are holding a vital regional council meeting on saturday 11th april.Meet at 12.30 at birchanger green services on the M11 (the stanstead airport and bishops stortford turnoff)This is short notice but we have vital things to discuss before the elections get under way in earnest and this is the only free date. Every unit must be represented.

Friday, 10 April 2009

On Tuesday 10th March the Royal Anglian Regiment were heckled by a fringe group of extremist Muslim demonstrators as the soldiers marched through Luton Town Centre. This predictable action frustrated and angered nearly every section of the community - above all the local mosques who had already banned the fifteen individuals. The blaze of negative publicity produced strong comment both locally and nationally, with strong condemnations from town hall politicians and a forthright debate in the letters column of local papers.

Soon afterwards it was possible to discern the comments intended to heal from those that sought to open up division and forward an entirely different agenda.

One ex-soldier, James Yeomans, started to organise a "Respect the Troops" march to take place three weeks after the original incident . Far from being a troublemaker, Yeomans intended this to be a genuine gesture to express regret at the incidents on 10th March and thus go someway towards repairing the reputation of the town. Unfortunately, individuals started to emerge from the darker corners of Facebook and other sites, chewing over the possibility of using the occasion to create a confrontation with the town’s sizeable Pakistani and Bangladeshi population. Keyboard warriors encouraged fellow group members to "bring their tools," going on to say "its going to be messy." Momentum was gathering to the extent that coaches were being booked to carry protestors from as far away from Chester and Portsmouth. Even "The Welsh Defence League" pledged attendance, although you get the feeling that their entire membership would fit snugly into a single Ford Mondeo.

Alert at every opportunity to create division the BNP hauled Peter Fehr back from retirement to do what he does best – leading the branch into oblivion. Despite telling a supporter in 2008

"I’m no longer active. I go to the occasional meeting in Biggleswade or sometimes Aylesbury and no longer organize anything,"

Fehr began to swing the 80 local members behind the march. He quickly organised a branch meeting (the first in 6 months) at the sympathetic King Harry Pub for the day after the march and rounded up 3 out-of-towners (Parish Councillor Simon Deacon, bottle-blonde Shelley Rose and Steve Sherwood from Milton Keynes.) He wrote to members on March 15th "I would therefore ask all members/patriots to attend this parade and support OUR troops. Please bring a Union Jack flag with you and fly it proudly when the troops parade. Lets all rally together and lets make this a day to remember"

Sensing events were running out of his control, James Yeomans cancelled the march. In an attack destined to feature in our leaflets for months to come, he cornered on the fascists :

"How do people make the link between respecting our troops and a fascist parade ? Its pitiful. We had invited people from all corners of the community. Including muslim leaders. These people call themselves patriotic and proud to be British but I wonder what they have ever really done for our country ? It makes me sad that they seem to have a copyright on the Union Jack. If they want to come to Luton to have a fight they need to have a look at their sad lives."

Indeed.

Despite being told that the march was off, much online sabre-rattling could be heard and pledges were made by local hooligans to ignore the police and carry on regardless. In response, Three Counties UAF decided to mobilise around our usual weekly stall in the town centre. On the day we had a good number of supporters from the trades council, Labour Party, Asian community, UAF and an elderly couple inspired by the Hope not Hate website to start their own local campaign. In a 90 minute operation we maintained a lively presence, gave out a good deal of literature and managed to deal with the few dozen football hooligans that skulked around before being moved on by police.

In the aftermath, the motley online crew of BNP supporters (and those simply up for a fight) were apoplectic. Who could blame them. In a single week the local freesheet had a banner headline "Fascists Stealing a March," the BNP meeting the next day was cancelled and their patriotic mass parade was turned into an anti-fascist rally with report on Anglia TV thrown in for good measure.

In desperation, they turned to Paul Ray aka "Lionheart" to leave his fantasy world of dragon-slaying and put together a march of their own on St George’s Day that no-one would pull at the last moment. To be fair, this idea had its merits. Ray was committed to the cause and had notoriety for producing his own long-running anti-Islamic blog. Secondly he was local – living in Dunstable, this was close enough to have influence but sufficiently far away to not have to live with the consequences. Thirdly, he acted as a lynch-pin for the various strands of nationalism in the area – from the football-orientated Luton MIGs (Men in Gear) to those drawn into BNP membership.

Thankfully, that’s where it all started to go wrong.

Mistake 1 – put the wrong people in chargeTo apply for a parade, you need to make the case before a sub-group of the borough council, with representation from Community Cohesion and the police. Bad idea therefore to have the person in charge (ie Ray,) currently being investigated by the CPS for inciting racial hatred from articles on his blog. Worse still to have the number 2 in your organisation, one Laurence Jones, a declared supporter of the BNP. Final nail in the coffin to have the support of the "March for England" organisation with its links to the Portsmouth 657 hooligan element.

Mistake 2 – get everyone confused over datesIn wades Peter Fehr to announce another march on Bank Holiday Monday, 16th April. In an email to supporters he does a reasonable job of organising the event, saying :"This Demo is being well publicised all over Great Britain and over 20,000 people are expected to descend to Luton on the 13th April to show their disgust towards Muslim extremists. So please attend and bring friends, relatives and work colleges, and show your support by bringing along a Union Jack flag. The 13th is on Easter Monday, so this is a bank holiday, so no excuses, turn-up and show your support."

On the other hand, later in the email he goes to lengths to distance the BNP from the event, saying :

"I MUST STRESS THAT THIS DEMO IS NOT BEING ORGANIZED BY THE BNP. Please do not wear any BNP badges if you plan on going to this event."

Hiding behind the false name of "Peter Fisher" in the letters column of The Luton News, Fehr is given space to state, ludicrously:

"Many of your readers will be aware that a demonstration is going to take place in Luton on Monday April 13th.... The British National Party wishes to make it clear that we will not be attending in any way, shape or form."

Who you kidding Peter.

Furthermore, a flyer for the march on the 16th was sent to the Searchlight offices on Blood and Honour notepaper. On it was a phone number, which turned out to be that of NF activist Stuart Hollingdale, the person who was jailed for 3 months in 1999 for daubing the Stephen Lawrence memorial with white paint.

Thankfully, Ray’s application for a march on St George’s Day appears to have hit the buffers. A few individuals will probably try to stir up trouble on both the 16th and the 23rd, but the police undoubtedly have contingency plans up their sleeves.

Three Counties UAF aim now to move from a defensive to offensive posture, mindful that the European and County elections are a matter of 8 weeks away. Unity between different strands of anti-fascist support in the town has been a distinct feature of our success to date and this pooling of expertise and resources gives us good reason for looking to the future with confidence.

Saturday, 4 April 2009

Events are moving are moving fast to the effect that a far-right activist in Dunstable is well-advanced down the route of organising a St George's Day march in Luton Town Centre with the twin themes of terrorism and immigration.

Dunstable blogger Paul Ray ( http://lionheartuk.blogspot.com/ ) was arrested last year by Bedfordshire Police for inciting racial hatred by the extreme anti-Islamic writings.

Recently he was in the forefront of a campaign to have a march in Luton Town centre on March 28th, when the organiser, James Yeomans, called it off given the evidence of far-right activists hi-jacking the event.

This time, Ray has put in a request himself for the march to take place on St Georges Day. Helping him according to the dedicated Facebook page is Dunstable BNP activist Laurence Jones.

There has been a very polite exchange of messages between police, town hall and Ray. The next move is on this coming Tuesday when Ray appears at the Safety Advisory Group - a Town Hall body with multi-agency respresentation. This body can advise on various organisational matters, but is unlikely to intervene on the wider political question of whether the march should take place.

These points need to be made :

1) This march is coming at the wrong time - given that the community needs time to return to normality after the Poachers March on March 10th

2) It is a strange situation when Dunstable activists are seeking to organise a march in Luton. Dunstable has no such event - why do they not organise one for there ? They will leave with no thought to the consequences left behind.

3) If it happens once, it is likely to become an annual event

4) The wrong people are taking the reins. If you truly wanted a family-friendly St George's Day march in Luton you don't want it being organised by a anti-muslim activist arrested for incitement backed up by the BNP.

5) It is unnecessary given the fact that Luton already has a full programme of St George's Day CULTURAL events planned for 25th of this month.

6) It is not necessary to introduce overtly extreme POLITICAL themes of terrorism and immigration into what should be a pleasant cultural celebration.

7) Of course what overrides is the fact that the organisers have the wrong motives. Using the trojan horse of St George's Day, far-right forces are instead trying once again to destabilise our community by focusing on extremely divise themes.

Thursday, 2 April 2009

You can read all you need to know about Dunstable blogger "Lionheart" from the article featured left. Sore after a big-time defeat in the town centre last Saturday, he is writing to local police to request a St George's Day march. Together with Dunstable BNP supporter Laurence Jones he is behind a Facebook campaign to whip up support amongst the keyboard warriors.

If Lionheart is so keen on a march, why does he not hold it in his own town of Dunstable ? Obviously he is looking to stir up trouble on our patch.

We believe it is fine to be proud of your country and to give support to local soldiers. A march organised by these people with a sinister alternative agenda would do more much more harm than good. Anyway, here's the letter ...

Dear Chief Superintendant Andy Frost (Divisional Commander for Luton)

I am writing to you concerning a St George’s day parade in Luton town centre that a group I am involved with are hoping to put on, to mark this special day in the calendar of the English people.As you are well aware, there was a recent demonstration in the town centre that was cancelled by many people out of respect to Luton police, a demonstration the media falsely accused of being hijacked by fascists.The paper stated that it is your responsibility to keep harmony in the town, which you achieved on Saturday 28th March. However, no disrespect to you, but you didn’t do a very good job of keeping harmony during the Poachers homecoming parade through the town on March 10th.

It seems that Luton police, of which you are divisional commander, would rather a group of Islamic militants who are aligned to Osama Bin Laden, Abu Hamza, Omar Bakri and Anjem Choudry disrupt the town and Nations harmony at will, and then persecute normal citizens who complain about this. When we, as normal citizens, seek to demonstrate against this Al Qaeda terrorist supporting group’s disgusting behaviour in Luton, you come out in force pleading for calm, with a media campaign labelling us all fascists.If you will not keep the peace and enforce the law upon Islamic militants as the police, who are paid to uphold law and order, then who will?

I hope that yourself and whoever else gets to read this, will agree that there is something seriously wrong here. If we, the common people, cannot voice our concerns on our streets about terrorists and their aims yet the Islamic militants can, it begs the question; "what has happened to our country to have sunk so low? And what does the future now hold for us?"I know that the majority of people involved in the March 28th demo in Luton were not descending on the town to cause civil disorder. They were descending from all over the country, to show their support to our armed services, to protest against Al Qaeda in Britain, and to stand in solidarity with the people of Bedfordshire over what is happening in our communities.Harmony was preserved this day in Luton because once again, we all had to stay silent about what is happening in our country and community, but next time things could turn out very differently. Not for any other reason than because the English people now have their backs firmly against the wall by the State, and are being abused and terrorised by militant Islam so there is no where else for us to turn other than to each other, and than spill out onto the streets in protest together.I hope I can safely say that that is not what the State wants, and I could also safely say that that is not what the majority of the silent majority want either.

Those who sit back watching the news with their wives and children as current events unfold outside their front doors and know they need to do something about what is going on so that their voices can be heard within society.Our forefathers fought and died for the freedoms we once enjoyed in this land that have slowly and systematically been removed from us by today’s ruling powers, but joining together on the streets is one freedom that is a God given right as English men/women in our own country that cannot be removed from us by anyone.The plea to you now is, will you give your permission and support to an organised St George’s day parade through Luton town centre this April 23rd?A day when the people of Luton can join together in unity with others from far and wide peacefully, where for a day there will be no politics within this arena that hampers modern society, or territorial differences between people. A day where we can leave all those differences behind and become one behind our national flag in honour of our patron saint St George.Every other nationality within our land is allowed to celebrate their identity as a part of the equality and multiculturalism agenda that has been enforced upon us by today’s government. However, we as the English, whose country this is, are continually refused to celebrate who we are, by these same people. We are called racists and fascists by the media if we try to.

I believe everyone reading this will agree that those words have been worn very thin now in the eyes of just about everyone. So now is the time for the State to support us as we emerge from the silent peaceful majority into the forefront of society once again, where our voices are heard.We, and you, have no other choice! Moslems are allowed to celebrate their historical religious leaders every year, sometimes with them cutting themselves to shreds with knives and bleeding profusely in our towns and cities. They are allowed to take to the streets to demonstrate against everything that offends them about British life, and her national and international policies, and they are not called racists by the media for doing so. Then when we want to unite as English men/women behind our national flag, shedding no blood upon the streets, we are labelled as racists and fascists.

Things have to change, and the hope is that Bedfordshire police will grant permission for that change to happen peacefully and within the law. If not the silent majority will have no other choice but to protest illegally. That is just the basic facts of the matter based upon the reality that now surrounds us, that cannot be changed unless people work together to bring about change.

Time is of the essence now because St George’s day is only 3 weeks away, so a swift reply would be very much appreciated and then we can present you with an outlay for the day. We have a well respected, professional organisation that are helping and advising us on how to run the parade successfully, but we just need to have your permission as the first step. There are also several guest speakers we would like to invite to speak to any people who will have gathered on the day, and being the Divisional Commander for Luton it might be nice for you to join them too if you grant permission.

This letter is coming to you on behalf of everyone already joined with the "Luton St George’s day" group who would like to celebrate this their national day for them and their families, and a hard copy will be in the post to you.We look forward to your reply.